MXR Slash Octave Fuzz Pedal Review

Slash is hardly the first player
you think of when octave
pedals come to mind—the only
Guns N’ Roses tune you’d think
might have one, “Paradise City,”
is actually overdubbed octaves.
Even so, the latest Slash signature
pedal from Dunlop is the
Slash Octave Fuzz, and the top-hatted
guitar hero uses it on two
tracks from his latest record,
Apocalyptic Love. With suboctave
and high-octave circuits
that can be mixed independently,
it’s a flexible pedal with
a wide range of fuzz tones—from funky to furious—for
everything from low-end riffs
to searing leads. Hardcore fans
are probably more interested in
a pedal that gets the overdrive
from "Sweet Child o’ Mine,’”
but the Octave Fuzz’s incendiary
tones reflect his more recent
playbook, while paying homage
to the Tycobrahe Octavia
and Boss OC-3 Super Octave
pedals he’s been using for the
last couple of years. Slash had
also expressed a desire for
something similar to the MXR
Blue Box, only more stable and
predictable.

It’s so Easy
The all-analog Octave Fuzz features
a rugged steel housing and
Slash’s signature skull-and-crossbones
graphic. It’s built like a
tank, and the underside battery
compartment, made of tough
plastic, is both roadworthy and
easy to use (you can also use an
optional 9V DC adapter). The
top panel features volume, tone,
fuzz, sub octave, and octave
up functions. The leftmost
footswitch activates the pedal
(and yes, it’s true-bypass switching),
while the right kicks the
octave up function in or out.
Additionally, there’s a push button
for sending the sub octave
sound into the fuzz circuit—a
nice touch that allows you to
run subs either clean or dirty
(though the tracking on cleaner
tones isn’t quite as tight as with
fuzz-assisted parts).

Ratings

Pros:
Sub octave and octave up circuits offer many
tone options. Built for the road. Voiced for searing,
shaggy fuzz.

Brash ’n’ Slashin’
Closest in spirit to, say, a Fuzz
Face and Octavia in tandem,
the silicon-based Slash Octave
Fuzz is voiced with plenty of
brash midrange boost—which
is how Slash tends to set his
own EQs. It’s a sound made
to cut through a live band,
which means it can be fairly
piercing when playing on
your own, especially with
octave up engaged—you’ll
quickly dial the tone control
down to the 9 o’clock
range, even on your neck
pickup. That brashness
cools off quite a bit
when you dial down
the Fuzz control, and what you
lose in singing sustain you make
up for in a pleasing, amp-style
overdrive that’s not dissimilar
to the useful crunch tones in a
Fulltone OCD. Of course, this
is a fuzz pedal. It’s not nearly as
creamy or hairy as a Big Muff,
but there’s a good dose of thick
’70s shag in the fuzz control’s
higher throw—and it’s awesome
at delivering sub octave girth to
E- and A-string power riffs: Play
“Moby Dick” with this sucker,
and you’ll think you’ve got JPJ
himself doubling your lines!

The Verdict
The Slash Octave Fuzz can
sound monstrous, though it’s
not always easy to control in
less wide-open applications:
When using the sub octave
function without fuzz, the volume
needed to be at 4 o’clock
to be at unity with my bypassed
signal. I’d rather set volume at
noon and not be surprised with
sudden spikes. The fuzz tones
can also lack a certain natural
compression that might have
warmed them up a bit and
made faster notes sound more
distinct when the octave is
more pronounced. Nevertheless,
like the man himself, this pedal
is chock-full of attitude, defiantly
edgy, and entirely capable
of making any amp scream like
you haven’t heard before.